Keeping back foot in high-heel position
Group: Author: Nathalie Dore | Posted: 2026-04-12
When I am leaning forward, do I keep the pelvis straight? I am finding it difficult to keep the back foot in high-heel without losing balance a little, I don’t think I am stabilizing something body part properly.
Replies
Section titled “Replies”Reply by Patrick — 2026-04-13
Section titled “Reply by Patrick — 2026-04-13”Yes, the pelvis should stay straight. The instability you’re describing usually comes from a combination of the stance being a little too wide and the forward lean being a little too deep for the stabilizing patterns to catch up. A few things to work with.
Narrow the stance and ease off the forward lean. Start less deep than you think you need to. Pull back slightly on the angle you’re leaning forward at, and keep the distance between the feet smaller. That gives you more control while you work on layering the other patterns into the form.
Apply the patterns you already know. The traction of the legs away from each other, and the drawing of the shoulders down, are what stabilize you at whatever depth you’re in. They aren’t separate from the form. They’re how the form holds together. The deeper you go, the more you need them, so keep reapplying them as you settle in.
Watch the front knee. One thing we noticed with you in session: the front knee tends to travel a little too far forward. Keep it stacked over the ankle in the lunge. This is part of why we recommend not going so deep initially. Once the knee drifts past vertical, the geometry gets harder to hold.
Feet hip-width apart as you tuck. This is directly connected to keeping the pelvis uniform. If the feet drift out of hip-width, the pelvis loses its reference.
Draw the extended leg hip slightly in. One thing you can add: almost exaggerate the motion of the extended leg hip drawing in toward the bent knee, as a mild torsion. It’s subtle, but it helps the pelvis hold its uniform position while you’re working on everything else.
On the broader point, we’d really recommend revisiting this practice lab along with the prior ones. The form dynamics change from lab to lab, but the patterns are the same, and that reapplication across different forms is how the program is designed to be assimilated. As we’ve mentioned on the weekends and throughout the program communications, the in-person sessions are where we go through everything together and progressively close the gaps between your self-guided practice and the in-person Q&A. A lot of what the patterns do isn’t obvious on a first encounter.
One thing worth adding, because it matters well beyond this specific question: we completely understand the desire to get it right, and we genuinely appreciate the care and motivation you’re bringing to the practice. Not everything in the method is meant to be understood immediately, though. A big part of what we’re introducing is a deconditioning of what normally feels habitual, including assumptions about what should or shouldn’t feel correct in the early phases. Rather than trying to sort it all out up front, work through it as best you can and let the theory and the practical application start to correlate over time.
As linear as the rollout might feel at first, like any form of deep learning it’s the reapplication of the approach that brings the most clarity to the outcomes. And with Baseworks specifically, that reapplication is closely interwoven with each person’s circumstances: personal condition, lifestyle constraints, how the practice fits into a given week. That’s why moderation is so central to the method. It’s what keeps the work doable and manageable, so you can stay with it long enough for the reapplication to take effect.
One last note for everyone reading: when you post a question on the forum, please take a moment to refer to our Forum Tag Shortlist and apply the relevant tags to your post. It makes the forum much more searchable over time, and turns it into a real resource where anyone can click a tag on any post to surface related discussions on the same topic.